PHILADELPHIA -- Being an X Games judge. It's kind of like being the guy behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. Nobody knows who you are but everyone knows you're important.

We decided to track down some of the judges for this years competition and find out what makes them tick, what they are looking for, and just how they rose to power.

Check it out:

AGGRESSIVE IN-LINE

Name: Azikiwee Anderson Age: 27 Home: Santa Rosa, California What pays the bills: I just designed a new skate for Rollerblade. I'm basically a consultant, rider and company owner. How did you become a judge? I've been judging for over four years. I wanted to have local competitions for kids and no one was really putting them on so I started putting on a couple events, building ramps and promoting events. We needed judges and I was a little older than everybody else so I judged. From there, people saw me judge some amateur comps and then people got to know me more and they gave me more opportunities. It's been all downhill from there!! Explain the judging process. The first thing you look for is style. Mastery of tricks, not just doing it, but making it look great. The guys who make it look incredible are the ones that really get my heart racing. I'm like 'damn, that was good!' When you can combine difficulty with style, you have a winner for sure. Going big, looking good, and making the sport look good, that is cool. When people bring difficulty to it, and make the sport look good, that is what I really look for. Athletes perception of judges? I have a fairly good relationship with most everybody. I think a lot of people talk shit behind our back. They don't always agree but we are thinking about a lot of things. We are thinking about how the sport is perceived, being fair, not being swayed by what is in magazines and who is hot at the moment. Some sports, the guy will fall twice and win just because he's a cool guy. That kind of belittles what it's all about. If you are going to compete, there has to be certain rules. When you come to competition you have to land your tricks and you have to be the best. If you aren't, you aren't getting the points from me. Some people call us haters because they want to see their friends win or they want to see the cool guy win, but I don't let that sway me and that is why I think I make a good judge. Most memorable moment? We've had people get upset with us but I don't really have to worry about that, I'm a pretty big guy! It's not like someone is really going to say to much to me. I look at the positive things like being at the ASA World Championships and seeing the caliber of riders there. Or even the vert comps here in Philly. Over 20,000 people in the stands, it made me excited to be a rollerblader and to be a part of this. And getting to travel is a great part about being a judge. When I'm 60 years old chillin' on a bedpan somewhere, I'm going to be sitting there thinking about being in Philly or Amsterdam. What do you expect to see in Philadelphia? This is the year of the stunts. Kids are just going off. We have to battle back and forth because some people don't think our sport is worthy of being here. Some people think our shit is easy and I think we are disproving that. There is no way you can say doing a forward 720 over a 15-foot box and landing on eight wheels and rolling away is an easy thing to do. This year is all about going big and disproving that myth that rollerblade is a weaker sport. What will you be judging in Philly?: I'm judging all the In-line events.

   Send to a friend  | Submit your photo or video
   Top Rated Photos |  Top Rated Videos |  Most Sent